FBI investigates woman's cruise ship death

San Diego  No criminal activity appears to be involved in the death of an 88-year-old woman who was seen falling from the San Diego-bound cruise ship MS Veendam on Friday, an agency spokesman said Monday.

FBI agents and a bureau evidence-response team met the Holland America Line ship when it returned to port in San Diego on Saturday, FBI Special Agent Darrell Foxworth said.

The ship had been on a seven-day Mexican Riviera cruise when the woman, a Canadian citizen, died Friday while the ship was about 300 miles south of San Diego.

According to a preliminary investigation and at least one witness, the woman had been observed standing outside a balcony rail with her arms extended, Foxworth said. At one point she turned around, but then repositioned herself and slipped and fell into the ocean, Foxworth said.

The crew immediately turned the ship around and sent a boat to rescue the woman. Lifesaving measures were performed, but the woman could not be revived, he said.

No arrests were made and no charges are expected in what appears to be an “isolated incident,” Foxworth said. There was a person accompanying the woman on the cruise, Foxworth said.

The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office has not yet listed results of its investigation, which would include whether the death was believed to be an accident or suicide.